‘Indiana Jones 5’ Official Release Date Announced, Filming Begins in 2020

Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford are ready to bring Indy back for another adventure.

Harrison Ford is closing in on 80, but he’s not done with Indiana Jones. That’s one takeaway from learning via Hypebeast that the fifth Indy movie will begin filming in April 2020, with an eye toward release in the summer of 2021.

Steven Spielberg—apparently undaunted by the ridicule heaped on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull—will return to the franchise as well. 

It originally looked like Indiana Jones 5 would begin filming in April 2019, but according to Hypebeast, Disney had issues with the movie’s script. The movie-centric Twitter account @DiscussingFilm, however, reported on July 28 that April 2020 was in the cards.

And yes, it pretty much has to be Harrison Ford, not some “young Indy” reboot—Ford made that very clear earlier in 2019, when he said, “Nobody is going to be Indiana Jones, don’t you get it? I’m Indiana Jones. When I’m gone, he’s gone. It’s easy.”

He knew, too, that this might disappoint some younger actors who could plausibly wear the adventurous professor’s famous hat, saying, “This is a hell of a way to tell Chris Pine this. I’m sorry, man.”

We have questions: Will the next movie ignore Crystal Skull, take a “let’s pretend this never happened” approach? Can a 77-year-old Indy still outrun spear-wielding tribesmen? Will Indiana Jones find clever ways to fight commies with his walker?

We’ll still have to wait a while—the next movie’s official release date is July 9, 2021.